The present disclosure relates to a wipe unit which cleans a recording head that discharges an ink to a recording medium such as a sheet and an inkjet recording device which includes such a wipe unit.
Since an inkjet recording device which discharges an ink to form an image can form a high-definition image, inkjet recording devices are widely used as recording devices such as a facsimile machine, a copying machine and a printer.
Conventionally, in an inkjet recording device, restoration processing is generally performed in which an ink whose viscosity is increased within an ink discharge port is forcefully pushed out from the ink discharge port and is wiped off with a wiper. Hence, in the inkjet recording device, a recording head which discharges the ink to a sheet (recording medium) and a wipe unit which cleans the recording head are provided.
The wipe unit includes: a wiper which wipes off the ink that is forcefully pushed out; and a recovery tray which is arranged below the wiper and which includes a tray surface that recovers the ink wiped off with the wiper. The tray surface is inclined with respect to a horizontal plane and is formed so as to pass the recovered ink in a predetermined direction and collect it.
The inkjet recording device which uses the wipe unit so as to perform the restoration processing on the recording head is conventionally known.
However, in the conventional wipe unit, the wiper is formed in the shape of a rectangle. Specifically, the lower end (lower surface) of the wiper is formed parallel to a width direction perpendicular to a wiping direction. Hence, when the ink which is pushed out to an ink discharge surface is wiped off with the wiper, the ink flows along the wiper to the lower end and drops to the tray surface in a state where the ink is spread in the width direction. When the ink drops to the tray surface in the state where the ink is spread in the width direction, and thus a small amount of ink is dispersed, the ink is unlikely to flow so as to be solidified at that place.